Welcoming Customers on the Phone and at the Desk.

Lesson 1 drops you into a typical first contact situation: a customer calls your company or walks up to your desk. You practise simple but powerful phrases to greet them, say who you are and make them feel welcome. Through short phone and face-to-face dialogues, you notice how tone and word choice change between channels. You build a small phrase bank for morning, afternoon and evening, and learn how to sound friendly but still professional. You also practise smiling with your voice on the phone and using light small talk while you open the customer record. Short guided tasks help you choose the right greeting for different cultures and levels of formality. At the end of the lesson, you bring everything together in a short call script or face-to-face exchange from your own job, so you can start real interactions with more confidence.

1. First phone call of the day.

Imagine it is nine o’clock on Monday morning. You sit down at your desk, put on your headset and the phone rings. This is the first call of the day. How you answer this call creates the first impression of you and of your company. In this block, we focus only on the very first seconds of a phone call: the greeting, your company name, your own name and a friendly question. You will hear a short call opening from an experienced agent. Then you will see the words on the screen and notice how the sentence is built. Listen for four parts: time of day, company, the agent’s name and the question, ‘How can I help you today?’. Do not worry if you do not catch every word the first time. Just relax, listen once or twice, and then we will practise the main sentence that you can use in your own job.

Listening to a model phone greeting.

Let us start with a very typical situation. The customer calls your company. You answer the phone and you want to sound friendly, calm and professional from the first second.

Here is a short model call opening from Maria, who works for a company called BrightLine.

> Agent (Maria): Good morning, BrightLine customer service, this is Maria speaking. How can I help you today?

>

> Customer: Hi, good morning. I have a question about my order.

Maria’s first sentence has a clear structure:

1. Time of day – “Good morning,”
2. Company and department – “BrightLine customer service,”
3. Self-introduction – “this is Maria speaking.”
4. Open question – “How can I help you today?”

If you use this structure, you already sound much more professional and confident. You show the customer that they called the right place, they know who you are, and they feel invited to explain their problem.

You can change the details, but keep the order. For example:

• Good afternoon, City Travel, this is Ahmed speaking. How can I help you today?
• Good evening, Premier Fitness, you are speaking with Lucy. How can I help you today?

In a moment, you will listen to Maria’s call opening again. This time, focus on the first sentence only. Try to catch every word she says in the greeting.

Your micro-task.

You will then type the first sentence exactly as you hear it. This is good training for your listening and also for remembering a powerful phrase you can reuse at work.

Practice & Feedback

Listen to the short call opening in the player below. You will hear Maria answer the phone. Focus on the very first sentence she says when she answers. You have already seen it on the screen, but now try to remember the exact words and punctuation.

After listening once or twice, type Maria’s first sentence in the box. Do not worry about capital letters too much, but try to include:

• the greeting for the time of day,
• the company and department,
• her self-introduction,
• and the open question.

Write one complete sentence, as if you are Maria answering the phone. This will be your first model line for your personal phrase bank.

2. Choosing the right greeting.

Now that you have heard one strong model, let us look more closely at greetings. Small changes in your greeting can make your English sound more natural. The most common change is the **time of day**. We normally say good morning until around midday, good afternoon after that, and good evening later in the day. Another difference is the **channel**. On the phone, you must include your company name because the caller cannot see you. At a service desk, the customer can see where they are, so your greeting is often a little shorter and more personal. In this block, you will see a few examples in a small table. Read them slowly and imagine yourself saying them. Then you will read three short situations and choose a greeting for each one. This helps you quickly select the right phrase when a real customer appears or calls at a different time of day.

Phone vs service desk greetings.

We often use a similar structure for phone and face-to-face greetings, but there are small differences.

Here is a simple comparison using the company BrightLine.

Notice these points:

• On the phone, the customer cannot see you. It is important to say the company and sometimes the department: customer service, reception, support.
• At the desk, the customer usually knows which company they are in, so you can be a little shorter and sometimes add a phrase like welcome or thanks for coming in.
• The open question is very similar in both situations: How can I help you today? or What can I do for you today?

Matching greeting to situation.

When you choose a greeting, think about:

1. Time – morning, afternoon or evening.
2. Place – phone or service desk.
3. Formality – standard customer, not your friend, so be polite and professional.

In the activity, you will read three short situations. For each one, you will write one full greeting sentence that you could really use at work.

Practice & Feedback

Read the three short situations in the text box below. Imagine that you are the customer service person in each one. For every situation, write one complete greeting sentence.

Include:

• a polite greeting for the time of day,
• your company name (you can use BrightLine or your real company),
• your name,
• and, if it is a phone call, an open question like How can I help you today?

Write three separate lines, for example:

1. [your greeting for Situation 1]
2. [your greeting for Situation 2]
3. [your greeting for Situation 3]

Try to reuse useful phrases from the table above. Do not worry if your company name is different. Focus on sounding polite and professional.

3. Introducing yourself clearly.

A polite greeting is a great start, but the customer also needs to know **who** they are speaking to. A clear self-introduction helps the customer feel more relaxed. They know they are talking to a real person, not just a company. It also makes it easier later if you need to say your name again for a survey or a complaint. In this block, we focus on saying your name and, when useful, your role or department. On the phone, we often say, "this is Anna speaking" or "you are speaking with David". Face to face, you might say, "my name is Anna" and point to your badge. On the screen, you will see some useful patterns and also some weak, very informal openings. Your job is to rewrite the weak versions into professional introductions that you would be happy to use with a real customer.

Self-introduction on the phone and at the desk.

After your greeting and company name, it is important to say who you are.

Common patterns on the phone:

• Good afternoon, MetroBank customer service, this is Hannah speaking.
• Good evening, City Hotel reservations, you are speaking with Daniel.

Face-to-face at a desk, you can be a little more direct and personal:

• Good morning. My name is Hannah. How can I help you today?
• Good afternoon. You are at City Hotel reception. My name is Daniel.

These sentences are short but powerful. They show that you are open and ready to help.

Weak vs professional openings.

Look at these weak or incomplete openings:

1. Hi, service.
2. Yeah?
3. Hello, company.

They are too short, too informal or not clear enough. The customer does not know who you are and sometimes is not sure they called the right place.

We can upgrade them using our patterns.

For example, number 1 could become:

• Good afternoon, MetroBank customer service, this is Alex speaking. How can I help you today?

Number 2 could become a desk greeting:

• Good morning. You are at MetroBank. My name is Alex. How can I help you today?

Your task in this block.

In the activity, you will read the weak openings again and rewrite each one as a clear, polite and professional greeting with a self-introduction. Use the patterns above and feel free to change the company name to your own workplace.

Practice & Feedback

In the box below, you can see the three weak openings again. Your task is to rewrite each one as a professional greeting with a clear self-introduction.

For each number (1, 2 and 3):

• keep the idea of the situation (phone or desk), but
• add a polite greeting,
• include a company or department,
• say your name,
• and, if it is a phone situation, add an open question such as How can I help you today?

Write three new sentences or short lines, labelled 1, 2 and 3. Imagine you are using them with real customers. Try to reuse useful chunks like this is [name] speaking or my name is [name].

4. Inviting the customer to explain.

You can now greet the customer and say who you are. The next step is to invite the customer to explain why they are contacting you. This is the moment when you move from the opening into the main part of the call or face-to-face conversation. The way you ask this question is important. If you ask a simple yes or no question, like "Do you have a problem?", the conversation can stop. Instead, we usually use an **open question** such as "How can I help you today?" or "What can I do for you this afternoon?". These questions invite the customer to tell their story. While they start speaking, you may also be opening their file or account in your system. Then you can use a soft phrase like "Let me just open your file" to show you are working in the background. On the screen you will see a short model and some useful chunks. Then you will create your own open questions.

From greeting to problem.

Here is a short phone dialogue that shows the full opening stage.

> Agent: Good afternoon, BrightLine customer service, this is Maria speaking. How can I help you today?

>

> Customer: Hi Maria. I have a problem with my internet order.

>

> Agent: I am sorry to hear that. Let me just open your file. May I take your name, please?

Notice how Maria moves smoothly through the stages:

1. Greeting + company + name – professional, friendly, clear.
2. Open question – How can I help you today?
3. Empathy + system work – I am sorry to hear that. Let me just open your file.
4. First detail question – May I take your name, please?

The open question is very flexible. You can change the time phrase, or use a similar frame:

• How can I help you today?
• How can I help you this afternoon?
• What can I do for you today?
• What can I do for you this evening?

When you are opening a record or system, soft background phrases are useful:

• Let me just open your file.
• Let me just bring up your account on the screen.
• One moment while I check your details.

These phrases fill the silence and show you are actively helping.

Your task in this block.

In the activity, you will practise writing two open questions to invite the customer to explain their problem, and one soft background phrase to use while you open a file or system.

Practice & Feedback

Now it is your turn to build the bridge from greeting to problem. Imagine you have already said hello and introduced yourself. You now want the customer to explain why they are contacting you and you also need a second or two to open their record.

Write:

1. Two different open questions you can ask after your greeting. Use patterns like How can I help you today? or What can I do for you this afternoon? but adapt them to your own style or time of day.
2. One soft background phrase to use while you open the customer’s file or system screen. For example, a sentence starting with Let me just… or One moment while I….

Write all three sentences in the box, numbered 1, 2 and 3. Try to sound calm, polite and professional.

5. Phone opening as a chat-style dialogue.

So far, we have looked mainly at spoken phone calls and at the service desk. However, the same phrases are also very useful in live chat, WhatsApp-style messages or internal messaging tools. In this block, we will simulate a phone call, but you will write it as a short chat dialogue. This makes it easier to see each step as a separate line. You will see an example chat between an agent and a customer about a phone problem. Notice how the agent uses the same building blocks: greeting, company name, self-introduction, open question, empathy and a soft phrase while opening the account. Then you will see a new customer message and you will write the agent’s side of the chat: four to six short lines. This is great practice for both real chats and spoken calls, because you are planning your phrases clearly and in order.

Example: using phone opening phrases in chat.

Here is a short chat-style dialogue. Read it slowly and notice how similar it is to the phone scripts you have already seen.

> Agent: Good afternoon, GreenTel customer service, this is Sam. How can I help you today?

>

> Customer: Hi Sam, my mobile data is not working.

>

> Agent: I am sorry to hear that. Let me just open your account. May I take your full name, please?

Even in a written chat, the agent still:

• greets politely and uses the time of day,
• gives the company and department,
• says their name,
• asks an open question,
• shows empathy,
• and explains they are opening the account.

You can reuse exactly the same chunks in many channels:

• Good afternoon, [company] customer service, this is [name]. How can I help you today?
• I am sorry to hear that.
• Let me just open your file.
• May I take your name, please?

Your task in this block.

In the activity, you will see a new first message from a customer. You will answer as the agent in a chat-style opening. You will write 4–6 short lines, starting with Agent:.

Try to include:

• a polite greeting with time of day,
• company and your name,
• an open question,
• at least one empathy phrase,
• and one soft phrase while you open their order or account.

Practice & Feedback

Read the customer’s first message in the box below. Imagine this is a live chat on your company website. You are the agent.

Write a short chat-style opening from the agent’s side only. Use 4–6 short lines. Start each line with Agent:, for example:

> Agent: Good afternoon, …

> Agent: I am sorry to hear that…

In your chat:

• greet the customer with an appropriate time of day,
• say your company and your name,
• ask an open question to invite more details,
• show empathy,
• and use a phrase like Let me just open your file while you check their order.

You can use the company name from the example (GreenTel) or your real company. Imagine this is a real customer and try to sound calm, friendly and professional.

6. Create your own opening script.

You have now practised all the key pieces of a strong opening: greeting, company name, your name, an open question, empathy and soft background phrases. In this final block, you will bring everything together and create a short script for your own job. This script can be for the phone, for a service desk, or for a typical live chat opening. Think about your real working day. What time do most customers contact you? What is your real company or shop name? Do you usually say the department, like customer service, reception or technical support? I will guide you with a simple checklist on the screen. Use it to plan and then write a mini dialogue or a sequence of sentences that you could really use tomorrow. After you write your script, you can save it and practise it out loud several times so that it feels natural when the next customer says hello.

Bringing it all together.

You are ready to create a complete opening script that fits your job. This will be your personal model for real calls or face-to-face contacts.

You can choose one of these formats:

• Phone script – what you say when you answer a call.
• Service desk script – what you say when a customer walks up to your counter.
• Chat opening – the first two or three messages you send in a live chat.

Checklist for a strong opening.

Make sure your script includes:

1. A polite greeting with time of day.
2. Your company and, if helpful, your department.
3. A clear self-introduction with your name.
4. An open question to invite the customer to explain their problem.
5. (Optional but very useful) an empathy phrase and a soft background phrase like Let me just open your file.

Example phone script:

> Agent: Good morning, City Travel customer service, this is Leila speaking. How can I help you today?

>

> Customer: Hi Leila, I think there is a problem with my booking.

>

> Agent: I am sorry to hear that. Let me just open your file. May I take your name, please?

Example desk script:

> Agent: Good afternoon. Welcome to City Travel. My name is Leila. How can I help you today?

Your performance task.

In the activity, you will write your own script of about 4–8 lines or sentences. Try to make it as realistic as possible for your company, your role and your customers. This will be your first real mini-script for starting customer interactions in English with confidence.

Practice & Feedback

You will now create your own complete opening script. Choose one main situation from your real work (or from a job you would like to have):

• answering the phone at customer service, reception or support,
• welcoming a customer at a service desk or counter,
• or starting a live chat.

In the box, write a mini script of 4–8 lines or sentences. You can write it like a dialogue (Agent / Customer) or as the exact sentences you will say when you answer.

Make sure you include:

• a greeting with time of day,
• your company and possibly department,
• your name,
• an open question (How can I help you today? or similar),
• and, if it fits your situation, an empathy phrase and a soft phrase like Let me just open your file.

Use real names if you like. Imagine you will actually say or type these words at work.